[FACT OR FAKE #15] Stalkers Can Track You From The Photos Uploaded From Your Phone
We spotted a viral video that says photos taken with smartphones pose a privacy and safety risk, particularly for children, because geographical location (geotagging) information may be embedded in the images. So we decided to get to the bottom of the truth.
By Judith Yeoh — 17 Aug 2013, 02:42 PM — Updated almost 11 years ago
This viral video, "WARNING!!!! If you take photos with your cell phone", spotted all over Facebook!"
The above video was posted with this warning: "This is truly alarming – please take the time to watch. At the end they’ll tell you how to set your phone so you don’t run this risk!"
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Here's how people responded/reacted to the above video
It’s just geotagging of photos. Both this site and this dumb local news channel are trying to overhype something trivial into something “scary”. It’s NOT “a new threat” and can be easily turned off in your device a settings.
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You shouldn't be on the Net if you don’t know how to use it. This stuff is not new. There is a reason why you can turn this stuff off and have privacy settings. If something did happen to these kids parents would have pointed the finger at the website instead of themselves.
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Fact or Fake: How true is the claim?
There's nothing particularly new in this warning — in fact, the news video cited in the post aired in 2010 — and it's a bit overblown, but the info is accurate enough to be worth heeding.
Most smartphone users are aware that their devices use GPS location services to power maps, driving directions, phone locators, etc., but not everyone is aware that the same technology may pose a risk to their safety and privacy by recording precise geographical information in the photos they take
snopes.comWhen you publicly share a geotagged photo via the Web or social media, the embedded data may, depending on the platform, be accessible to anyone with the proper software to extract it (some services, e.g. FB and Twitter, automatically delete location data from uploaded images; others don't)
The software is easy to use, readily available. It's a simple matter to take the geographical coordinates of the location where the photo was shot — your own backyard, for example — convert them into map form, and voila: a total stranger knows your exact address
snopes.comFortunately, it's also a simple matter — and advisable if you plan on sharing your photos publicly — to disable the geotagging feature in your smartphone camera. See the resources below for specific instructions applicable to the most common devices.
An important point to take note of
Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Google+ doesn't automatically remove location data from uploaded photos, but does offer users the option of hiding it. Instagram also makes displaying geotagged images, or not, optional.
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